- I hear from composition students all the time
that they can come up with ideas,
they can get their music started,
but then they don't know what to do next.
- You're confused.
- So maybe they copy paste their first section
and just change around the instruments,
or they go off into this unrelated B theme.
They wanna write longer, more expansive pieces of music,
but they don't know how to do it.
In this video we'll look at the first step
towards writing longer compositions,
which is to expand your basic themes beyond eight bars
using what I'm calling the REPS method.
- I don't know how to get a patent.
- Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the channel.
My name is Ryan.
I've written music for projects
on Netflix and Disney.
And this is where I talk about the craft of writing music.
I've talked a lot on this channel already
about the sentence and the period,
which are two melody forms
that in their textbook version are eight bars long.
So, today we're gonna look at
how to expand these basic forms into longer themes
and how you can keep all the benefits of those formulas,
while also being more flexible and hopefully more musical.
For each technique,
we're gonna look at how you can use it
for the three different parts of a theme,
the beginning, the middle, and the end.
Midi files for all the examples on this video
will be available on my Patreon
and I'll put a link in the description.
So let's get into the R.E.P.S. method.
The R stands for repeat.
This means taking existing material
and immediately saying it again
and immediately saying it again.
Sometimes you can repeat exactly.
Sometimes you might repeat with a little variation.
- Keep it interesting.
- We'll start with endings
because repeating the ending of a theme
is pretty much always effective.
You can repeat the entire last phrase
or even just the last few bars in the cadence.
Repetition at the end also gives you a chance
for a deceptive cadence
because you can set your audience up
to expect a certain conclusion and then surprise them.
For example, we could take this theme
with a pretty clear cut cadence
and instead land on a chord
that still makes sense for the melody,
but isn't the one we're expecting.
Then we back up and give it another try.
(jazzy piano music)
Repeating the beginning of your theme
doesn't really work too well for the sentence form
because we already have that repetition
built into the formula.
In the Mario two example we just looked at,
bars three and four were already a varied repetition
on bars one and two.
Any more repetition and it would sound repetitive.
Something you can do,
which is probably more effective in the period form
is a call and response.
This works especially well
when you do the response in a different range
or on a different instrument.
So in this theme,
we could take the first two phrases
and immediately echo them back an octave lower.
(upbeat music)
Using repetition in the middle of your theme
is usually probably not a great idea
because you're just gonna kill the momentum.
The middle of a theme is where we have movement.
We're coming away from the beginning
and driving towards a cadence.
I could contrive a couple examples,
but I think it's better to move on.
Here's a chart of where the repeat technique works best.
Repeating the ending always works.
In the beginning repetition sometimes works
depending on the music,
and repetition in the middle, usually not so much.
Next we have E which stands for extend.
Extending an idea means stretching it
beyond the expected length.
So for example, taking a two-bar basic idea
and stretching it into a three-bar basic idea.
Sequencing is especially useful here
where you maintain the shape of the motive,
but change its pitch register.
For example, we could sequence a motive
from this theme and extend the opening phrase
from four bars to five.
And if we do the same thing, when the basic idea repeats,
we've made these eight bars into 10,
but it's still feels natural.
(solo violin music)
Extending the middle means continuing along the path
that you've already set up.
Again, sequencing is not the only option here,
but it's a pretty reliable one.
So don't be afraid to use it.
For example, we could take the half step sequence
in bars five and six of this theme,
and just keep it going,
go down another half step,
step back up to pick it up where we left off
and head into the cadence.
(lively flute solo music)
You can extend the ending of your theme
by stretching out the time it takes to reach your cadence.
So one thing you could do is look at your theme
and find a moment where it's clear
you're setting up the path towards the end
and back up from there.
In this theme,
we can see this climbing line towards the end,
so we could start the line a third lower
and take even more time to climb up.
(syncopated violin solo music)
Let's add extending to our chart.
Extending works well in all sections.
I think the best place to get more time with extension
is in the middle.
The continuation section of a sentence
naturally lends itself well to sequencing and expanding.
And that's part of why I love the sentence form so much,
but as we saw,
we can extend in the beginning and the end as well.
Next up in REPS is P which stands for pause.
You could also think of this as wait or hold.
As simple as this sounds,
this is where you stay within an idea
for a longer than expected time before moving on.
The easiest way to pause at the beginning
is to find a point of natural breath
and then just hold onto that breath for longer.
For example, in this theme,
we have two points of natural breath in the first four bars.
So what if we let the accompaniment just kind of vamp
for an extra bar in those breaths.
(syncopated piano music)
Holding or pausing at the beginning of a theme
can actually give you some restlessness and tension,
but not in a dissonant way,
but more of a, you know, like, okay,
come on, let's get going kind of way.
You can get a similar effect with the false start,
where it takes your melody a couple tries
to rev up and get going.
(syncopated piano music)
This also creates that sense of craving
for things to move on.
It's not the same as repeat
because we're not repeating the whole phrase.
We're just kind of warming up the idea
before actually fully stating it.
A third way we can pause at the beginning
is to add a little intro.
Just take your accompaniment from the first bar or two
and back it up so it comes in a little early.
"Conkdor Canyon" does this with the drums,
giving us a moment to settle into the vibe
before the main melody starts.
(upbeat electronic music)
Similar to repeating,
I don't think the middle
is the greatest place for a pause because once again,
you're gonna kind of kill that forward momentum
that the middle is so good for.
One possibility is to hold before the onset
of a conventional phrase,
especially if there is a natural breath in the theme
where you could hold for a moment
without disrupting the flow.
So in this theme, if you needed to buy an extra bar of time,
this is a place where you could do it
and no one would hardly notice.
(strong orchestral music)
Pausing or holding at the end is really effective
because you can really emphasize the feeling
that you want people to have at the end of your theme.
If it's a half cadence,
you can really build up the suspense.
If it's a perfect cadence,
you can make people feel even extra settled
and more at home,
which will be really effective for the end of the piece
where you want it to be very conclusive.
So in this theme,
we could take the last bar and extend it into two,
giving the suspense just a little extra pull
on the half cadence.
(strong orchestral music)
So now let's add pause to our chart.
Pausing near the beginning can build up suspense.
Pausing at the end can prolong the conclusion
and pausing in the middle will probably kill momentum.
So we have repeat, extend, pause,
and the S is for subscribe.
Now I'm just kidding. Sort of.
To be honest, the S is there
because REPS sounds better than REP
is kind of the main reason.
But if we had to come up with something,
we could say that the S stands for study.
Study the music that speaks to you,
and is the kind of thing that you wish you were writing.
Find these moments
that are not just a square two or four bars
and ask yourself why?
Which technique are they using? Are they repeating?
Are they extending? Are they pausing?
How are they getting this looseness and this flexibility?
And then as an extra step,
try writing your own melody using that technique.
See if you can extend the middle phrase,
or if you can pause near the beginning
and give yourself more time.
A melody is only as good as its basic idea.
So to make sure you have the two things you need
for a good motive, check out this video here.
Thanks for watching, and I will see you in the next one.